Houston Chronicle by John C. Roper 2/15/2019
More requests for waivers from steel tariffs have come from Texas than any other state, with 90 percent of those requests coming from companies in the Houston area, according to the U.S. Commerce Department.
Texas accounted for about one in every five of the 43,000 waiver requests since March, when President Donald Trump imposed the duties on foreign steel to protect U.S. steel makers from what he said was unfair competition, according to Commerce Department data compiled by the Associated Press. Those tariffs, however, have raised costs for hosts of other manufacturers and industries.
Few regions are feeling those higher steel costs as keenly as Greater Houston, where pipe, equipment and other steel-product manufacturers support the growing petrochemical industry and oil and gas business. Domestic oil and gas producers import more than 70 percent of the steel used for line pipe, with 20 percent supplied by Mexico and Canada. In many cases, this material is simply not available from U.S. suppliers in the required quantity or specifications, according to the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association.
“Steel imports are critical to the Texas oil and gas industry, including the construction and maintenance of wells, and pipeline infrastructure,†said Ed Longanecker, president of the energy industry trade group. He called the tariffs “a punitive tax on U.S.- based producers, large and small, adding significant cost on a per-well (basis) and tens of millions of dollars to some critical infrastructure projects.â€
Campaign pledge
The energy industry has been among the biggest critics of the tariffs since Trump invoked his national security powers to impose tariffs not only on rivals such as China, but also allies such as European nations, Mexico and Canada. In doing so, Trump fulfilled a campaign pledge to protect and revive the American steel industry, which has struggled to compete with lower-cost foreign suppliers.
It appears to have worked, for now. U.S. Steel reported that its profits nearly tripled to $1.15 billion in 2018 from $387 million the prior year, before the tariffs came into effect.
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https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/article/More-requests-for-waivers-from-steel-tariffs-have-13618327.php
